Initial ratings are positive for
Bellator 166, with preliminary Neilsen estimates pegging the
Dec. 2 event at 613,000 average viewers.

Bellator 166 was the first night of Bellator
MMA’s two-night doubleheader at WinStar World Casino in
Thackerville, Okla., and featured the promotion’s bantamweight
champion Eduardo
Dantas earning a majority decision over rival Joe Warren in
the main event. The card aired from 9 to 11:35 p.m. ET Friday night
on Spike and drew 289,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic.

Though Bellator 166 did not make Nielsen’s top 100 cable shows for
Dec. 2, the rating still represents an improvement over the
promotion’s recent events. Bellator 165, headlined by the
lightweight title bout between Michael
Chandler and Benson
Henderson, drew 597,000 viewers going head-to-head with the UFC
Fight Night “Bader vs. Nogueira 2” card on Fox Sports 1. Two weeks
prior, Bellator 163, which saw Phil Davis
win the light heavyweight title from Liam
McGeary, drew only 507,000 viewers, the lowest rating of the
year for the promotion.

Bellator 166 is the first broadcast since Bellator 161 in September
to average more than 600,000 watchers. For its 2016 broadcasts on
Spike, Bellator MMA has drawn an average of 689,000 viewers, a
number still buoyed by February’s Bellator 149 card, which featured
Royce
Gracie-Ken Shamrock 3,
as well as “Kimbo Slice” Kevin
Ferguson-“Dada 5000” Dhafir
Harris, which averaged over 1.96 million viewers.